Siquijor is an island near Negros. Carmen and I were invited to visit with one of the missionaries from Pastoral Training of Asia (the organization I served with when I came with CPC the first time). We will be on the island for three days and two nights just to have a time of rest and relaxation. I plan to spend this time really focusing on my last month here in Dumaguete and planning the activites that I am going to be doing in the next month. And of course I will be taking time to shut off my brain and relax! Siquijor is a beautiful island and I will for surely be posting pictures of my adventure when I return on Wednesday.
Prayer Requests:
We are having another course of pnemonia coming through. One of the triplets is in the hospital to be assisted with breathing and to have an IV to maintain hydration. Please pray that the rest of the kids will get better! We took 12 children to the doctor yesterday....they sure love us when we go there!
The girls will be starting school tomorrow after their winter vacation. Please pray that they adjust well and get back in the swing of things.
The two oldest M's have their court hearing tomorrow where they will be testifying against their accusers. Please Please Please pray that they will handle this well, as they will be seeing their abusers in court. Please pray that they will be able to talk to our social worker and that this ordeal will be over for them and their wounds will heal.
Also pray for safe travel!
Thanks!
Blessings,
Manda
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Welcome 2009!
Wow! New Years here is a wonderful time! Fireworks constantly going off. And I am not talking about little snap or popper ones, I'm talking about Disneyland style fireworks. Leanna, Aaron, Carmen, and I went shopping for fireworks at a street that is lined with tons and tons of booths filled with all sorts of fireworks and firecrackers. Some even have dynamite. You can even buy a paper bag full of gun powder! With that said, New Years here is a time of remembrance and celebration. I feel like it is a lot more about prosperity and being with family than an excuse to party like it is in the States. One of the Yayas was telling me about all of the superstitious traditions that some Filipinos partake in. One example is having 13 round fruits displayed on the kitchen table. One for each month and one extra for good luck past the 12 calender months. I enjoy this ritual simply because there are tons and tons of citrus fruits and apples for sale in the town at super competitive prices so fresh fruit is not hard to find this time of year.
New Years Eve we all stayed up on the patio and played games, watched a slide show of photos, ate, and set off fireworks. We also stayed up until 4am watching movies. It was a really fun night. Then New Years night we had a Night of Psalms at church and the theme was "Consecrate". This was a really nice refreshing time of renewal and guidance for the new year.
Rainbow received a donation box with tons of homemade Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers. The kids opened them yesterday and they were all so excited to get a small toy, a piece of candy, and a hand painted Christmas shirt.
So now here are a few photos from the recent festivities...
New Years Eve we all stayed up on the patio and played games, watched a slide show of photos, ate, and set off fireworks. We also stayed up until 4am watching movies. It was a really fun night. Then New Years night we had a Night of Psalms at church and the theme was "Consecrate". This was a really nice refreshing time of renewal and guidance for the new year.
Rainbow received a donation box with tons of homemade Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers. The kids opened them yesterday and they were all so excited to get a small toy, a piece of candy, and a hand painted Christmas shirt.
So now here are a few photos from the recent festivities...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmastime Came & Gone
I can't even express how quickly the past few weeks have flown by. All of my time was spent preparing things for Christmas. Things like wrapping gifts, choosing clothing for the children to wear on Christmas, preparing for parties, shopping for gifts, making a "Merry Christmas" lettering to go on the wall...all of these things completely filled my time. I had an amazing time during all of this and I am so blessed to have been a part of it.
My oldest M is doing wonderfully! She has now moved up and gets to hang out with the older Agape girls. She is really thriving in this area and is acting more grown up through the influence of the older girls. I am having so much fun with her! The girls are on holiday from school so now that Christmas is over I have been filling my time hanging out with them and playing games. It has been a nice restful time.
We had many visitors here for Christmas! Trip and Susan, the founders of Rainbow, are here for about two months. They are such legends around here! They have done so much for this community and pretty much everyone knows them and has been impacted by them in some way.
There was also a young missionary couple from Manila that came for two weeks at Christmas. They were so much fun! I will be able to stay with them on my return back to the States when I have my layover in Manila. I am so blessed to know them now and I can stop fretting about staying overnight in Manila alone.
We also had the staff Christmas party last week where all of the staff brought their families and the Agape girls were able to invite their families, if they had any. The party was great and it was a lot of fun getting to meet everyone. We also played a traditional game called "manito manita" It is like the American form of the "secret santa" game...but you have to dance around in a circle. We also had special numbers at the party. For our office staff number, I was the star for the song "Do you hear what I hear". The Agape girls did a skit about the birth of Jesus in the form of a newscast. I helped with the two youngest M's and we did commercials. I had to speak into the microphone and also sing a song! Highly unusual for me! I also helped with prompting if the girls forgot their lines. It was a lot of fun and I was glad when it was over. The yaya's also did a special number where they all dressed up and did a dance. Some of the staff's kids did songs too. It was really cute!
Here are some photos from all of the events!
The two oldest M's at their school's Christmas party. They sang a candle light "happy birthday Jesus" and they were giggling about something.
Dumaguete's Boulevard street with the traditional Christmas decoration... Stars! Just like the star the shepherds followed!
The staff Christmas play of "Do you hear what I hear"
My 3 beautiful M's
Christmas Eve night is called Buena Noche. We stay up until midnight and the girls get to open their gifts. They some of us slept outside on the patio!
Also the "Merry Christmas 2008" on the wall in the background of some of the photos... I made that! I have never hated glitter more in my life!
Blessings to all and I hope you all had a great holiday!
My oldest M is doing wonderfully! She has now moved up and gets to hang out with the older Agape girls. She is really thriving in this area and is acting more grown up through the influence of the older girls. I am having so much fun with her! The girls are on holiday from school so now that Christmas is over I have been filling my time hanging out with them and playing games. It has been a nice restful time.
We had many visitors here for Christmas! Trip and Susan, the founders of Rainbow, are here for about two months. They are such legends around here! They have done so much for this community and pretty much everyone knows them and has been impacted by them in some way.
There was also a young missionary couple from Manila that came for two weeks at Christmas. They were so much fun! I will be able to stay with them on my return back to the States when I have my layover in Manila. I am so blessed to know them now and I can stop fretting about staying overnight in Manila alone.
We also had the staff Christmas party last week where all of the staff brought their families and the Agape girls were able to invite their families, if they had any. The party was great and it was a lot of fun getting to meet everyone. We also played a traditional game called "manito manita" It is like the American form of the "secret santa" game...but you have to dance around in a circle. We also had special numbers at the party. For our office staff number, I was the star for the song "Do you hear what I hear". The Agape girls did a skit about the birth of Jesus in the form of a newscast. I helped with the two youngest M's and we did commercials. I had to speak into the microphone and also sing a song! Highly unusual for me! I also helped with prompting if the girls forgot their lines. It was a lot of fun and I was glad when it was over. The yaya's also did a special number where they all dressed up and did a dance. Some of the staff's kids did songs too. It was really cute!
Here are some photos from all of the events!
The two oldest M's at their school's Christmas party. They sang a candle light "happy birthday Jesus" and they were giggling about something.
Dumaguete's Boulevard street with the traditional Christmas decoration... Stars! Just like the star the shepherds followed!
The staff Christmas play of "Do you hear what I hear"
My 3 beautiful M's
Christmas Eve night is called Buena Noche. We stay up until midnight and the girls get to open their gifts. They some of us slept outside on the patio!
Also the "Merry Christmas 2008" on the wall in the background of some of the photos... I made that! I have never hated glitter more in my life!
Blessings to all and I hope you all had a great holiday!
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Lord is my Shepherd
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to go to Samboan, Cebu for church. I will do a sort of picture entry so it can be like you went too...sort of.
First we took a boat over, but I did not get a picture of that. It was about a half hour boat ride across. Then we got off the boat and took a pedicab to the bus stop. Pedicabs in this part of Cebu are different from Dumaguete's. I actually like them in Cebu a lot better!
Then we took the Ceres Liner. These are huge yellow and white busses that are all over the Philippines. Most of the time the drivers are very crazy because they try to get wherever they are going very quickly and everyone does a good job of moving out of their way. This is Carmen and I being a little bit worried...
Then we arrived at Calvary Chapel Samboan!
The congregation was very small maybe about 30 or 40 people. Ate Karen even said that since it was the first Sunday of the month all of the outreach bible studies come so there was a large attendance on this Sunday. Ate Karen had spent almost a month their when she first became a missionary in the Philippines. She has a lot of special bonds and relationships with the people. It was so nice to meet them all and see their love for the Lord. The message was all in Visayan with a little bit of English. I understood some of it. It was a very good message about Psalm 23. The Lord is our shepherd. We also looked at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We are His sheep and we must follow our shepherd and obey Him.
After the service was over, we ate lunch at Ate Ping's house with her daughters Judah and Jedadiah. They are ages 6 and 5. Then we went on a walk around the town.
After we returned back to the church we waited for a bus and took it back to the bus stop. But they dropped us off to early so we had to walk a bit of ways to catch a pedicab. Then we took the pedicab back to the boat dock. The pedicab we were in had a sticker that said "The Lord is my Shepherd". Thanks for the reminder! Then took the boat back to Sibulan and our trip was over. It was such a blessing to be able to visit the church in Samboan!
First we took a boat over, but I did not get a picture of that. It was about a half hour boat ride across. Then we got off the boat and took a pedicab to the bus stop. Pedicabs in this part of Cebu are different from Dumaguete's. I actually like them in Cebu a lot better!
Then we took the Ceres Liner. These are huge yellow and white busses that are all over the Philippines. Most of the time the drivers are very crazy because they try to get wherever they are going very quickly and everyone does a good job of moving out of their way. This is Carmen and I being a little bit worried...
Then we arrived at Calvary Chapel Samboan!
The congregation was very small maybe about 30 or 40 people. Ate Karen even said that since it was the first Sunday of the month all of the outreach bible studies come so there was a large attendance on this Sunday. Ate Karen had spent almost a month their when she first became a missionary in the Philippines. She has a lot of special bonds and relationships with the people. It was so nice to meet them all and see their love for the Lord. The message was all in Visayan with a little bit of English. I understood some of it. It was a very good message about Psalm 23. The Lord is our shepherd. We also looked at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We are His sheep and we must follow our shepherd and obey Him.
After the service was over, we ate lunch at Ate Ping's house with her daughters Judah and Jedadiah. They are ages 6 and 5. Then we went on a walk around the town.
After we returned back to the church we waited for a bus and took it back to the bus stop. But they dropped us off to early so we had to walk a bit of ways to catch a pedicab. Then we took the pedicab back to the boat dock. The pedicab we were in had a sticker that said "The Lord is my Shepherd". Thanks for the reminder! Then took the boat back to Sibulan and our trip was over. It was such a blessing to be able to visit the church in Samboan!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Parade and Pigs
Here are some photos from NORSU's (Negros ORiental State University) founder's day parade. The theme for the parade was Disney movies. Two of our girls were in the parade. One was actually walking in the parade holding up a prop, and another was doing crowd control on the street.
Our pig that was pregnant went into labor on Monday morning. She continued to have contractions, but no piglets were coming out. The vet came and gave her meds to induce labor. Still wal'ay piglets. Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) she gave birth to a still born piglet. Several hours later, and after the vet had done more injections, the vet and his assistant were able to pull out, yes pull out, 4 piglets. They had left for a period of time in between to get supplies and dinner and during that time, another piglet began to come out. Leanna, myself, and some of the girls had to think fast and get the pig out. Leanna was very brave and pulled it out. Yesterday six piglets came out, all dead. Today, three more came out with assistance. Come to find out that the poor mama pig's birth canal very very small. It was such a sad experience and we believe that all of the dead piglets have been taken out of the mama. She has been trying to look for them, but they aren't there. Here is a photo of the first pig to come out (patay=dead) and then another photo of the vet and his assistant with piglet number three.
Our pig that was pregnant went into labor on Monday morning. She continued to have contractions, but no piglets were coming out. The vet came and gave her meds to induce labor. Still wal'ay piglets. Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) she gave birth to a still born piglet. Several hours later, and after the vet had done more injections, the vet and his assistant were able to pull out, yes pull out, 4 piglets. They had left for a period of time in between to get supplies and dinner and during that time, another piglet began to come out. Leanna, myself, and some of the girls had to think fast and get the pig out. Leanna was very brave and pulled it out. Yesterday six piglets came out, all dead. Today, three more came out with assistance. Come to find out that the poor mama pig's birth canal very very small. It was such a sad experience and we believe that all of the dead piglets have been taken out of the mama. She has been trying to look for them, but they aren't there. Here is a photo of the first pig to come out (patay=dead) and then another photo of the vet and his assistant with piglet number three.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Proof
Here is proof of me driving stick shift
The other things I will mention, I do not have photos for yet. I have not updated in awhile. I have been very busy!
We had Fiesta and it was great. Fiesta goes along with the celebration of the city's saint. Usually the food for fiesta has been offered to the saint as a sacrifice. Yet most people now, as Christians, just want to celebrate what the Lord has given them and share it with friends and family. We visited 5 of the Yaya's homes and ate SO MUCH food! I was dili gutom (not hungry) for a few days after that. Each home had a lechon, as well as many other types of meats and special foods. At each home you are expected to eat an entire plate of food. Mostly all of the dishes were made of meat and neither I, nor my stomach enjoy meat, so that was a fun experience. Most of the meat was also, well, unidentifiable. I am pretty sure that I ate things like intestine and lung and liver. Yum!
We also had another day of eating when all of the Americans in Dumaguete who are missionaries or bible students or somehow work with a ministry here come together and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Carmen and I were in charge of making a salad. We were told that there would be 65 people and that we had to make enough for everyone. We ended up buying all of the ingredients, many of which were expensive and imported, and buying too many of them! We ended up with three HUGE bowls of salad and had two and a half bowls left! The other food at the dinner was great, so I do not blame anyone for not eating my salad! It was interesting to see all of the traditional foods made with ingredients from the Philippines. After dinner we had a time of games which was a lot of fun.
Tonight at church there was a worship night. It was called "Healing Grace". The Pastor of the church had been inspired and lead to name the service that due to all of the brothers and sisters in the congregation who are suffering from cancer or other life threatening illnesses. It was a great time of worship and prayer as well as fellowship. It was very refreshing for me and I feel restored and renewed in the Lord. I have lately been having a difficult time connecting at church. I attend the Friday night youth services with the girls, but it is just not enough for me because the level is junior high to early high school. I also attend the Sunday service but I have been wanting more worship time and fellowship. So having this time of worship was great! One of the Yayas shared her testimony about how God healed her from her stage 4 cancer of the lungs. I had no idea that she had had cancer but I knew that she was sharing her testimony. When she got up on stage and began talking about her illness and how God had had mercy on her and saved her I was in awe of her story. She was speaking mostly in Cebuano, but what little I did understand her story really touched me.
This next week is also going to be another busy busy week. Becky is going to Manila tomorrow to finish the matching process for the triplets. I will be driving the girls to school on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday for something that I cannot remember, I think a national hero.
Other things that I will be doing this week:
Working with the M's
Finishing picking out clothing for the Christmas party and Christmas day for all of the children
Designing lettering to go on the wall in the patio saying "Come Let Us Adore Him" or "Glory to God in the Highest" (I'm up for suggestions or help with picking which one to do) for all of our Christmas parties that are coming up.
Organizing games and prizes for the school sponsorship party
Gift sorting for all of the staff and their children for the staff party
Going to town to watch the college girls' school's founder's day parade as well as choir competition
Finish decorating the big house for Christmas
Preparing a Bible study and craft for the toddlers
And I think that is all for now.
Prayer Requests:
Safety while driving the kids to and from school
None of the toddlers or babies are sick right now, so prayer for continued health for them.
For me to have more time with my M's
For God to use me more!
Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts!
1 Corinthians 9:23-25
"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
Let us remember to run in the race and strive to finish well and receive the crown of life from our Father in heaven rather than looking to our own selfish amibitions to win an earthly prize.
The other things I will mention, I do not have photos for yet. I have not updated in awhile. I have been very busy!
We had Fiesta and it was great. Fiesta goes along with the celebration of the city's saint. Usually the food for fiesta has been offered to the saint as a sacrifice. Yet most people now, as Christians, just want to celebrate what the Lord has given them and share it with friends and family. We visited 5 of the Yaya's homes and ate SO MUCH food! I was dili gutom (not hungry) for a few days after that. Each home had a lechon, as well as many other types of meats and special foods. At each home you are expected to eat an entire plate of food. Mostly all of the dishes were made of meat and neither I, nor my stomach enjoy meat, so that was a fun experience. Most of the meat was also, well, unidentifiable. I am pretty sure that I ate things like intestine and lung and liver. Yum!
We also had another day of eating when all of the Americans in Dumaguete who are missionaries or bible students or somehow work with a ministry here come together and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Carmen and I were in charge of making a salad. We were told that there would be 65 people and that we had to make enough for everyone. We ended up buying all of the ingredients, many of which were expensive and imported, and buying too many of them! We ended up with three HUGE bowls of salad and had two and a half bowls left! The other food at the dinner was great, so I do not blame anyone for not eating my salad! It was interesting to see all of the traditional foods made with ingredients from the Philippines. After dinner we had a time of games which was a lot of fun.
Tonight at church there was a worship night. It was called "Healing Grace". The Pastor of the church had been inspired and lead to name the service that due to all of the brothers and sisters in the congregation who are suffering from cancer or other life threatening illnesses. It was a great time of worship and prayer as well as fellowship. It was very refreshing for me and I feel restored and renewed in the Lord. I have lately been having a difficult time connecting at church. I attend the Friday night youth services with the girls, but it is just not enough for me because the level is junior high to early high school. I also attend the Sunday service but I have been wanting more worship time and fellowship. So having this time of worship was great! One of the Yayas shared her testimony about how God healed her from her stage 4 cancer of the lungs. I had no idea that she had had cancer but I knew that she was sharing her testimony. When she got up on stage and began talking about her illness and how God had had mercy on her and saved her I was in awe of her story. She was speaking mostly in Cebuano, but what little I did understand her story really touched me.
This next week is also going to be another busy busy week. Becky is going to Manila tomorrow to finish the matching process for the triplets. I will be driving the girls to school on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday for something that I cannot remember, I think a national hero.
Other things that I will be doing this week:
Working with the M's
Finishing picking out clothing for the Christmas party and Christmas day for all of the children
Designing lettering to go on the wall in the patio saying "Come Let Us Adore Him" or "Glory to God in the Highest" (I'm up for suggestions or help with picking which one to do) for all of our Christmas parties that are coming up.
Organizing games and prizes for the school sponsorship party
Gift sorting for all of the staff and their children for the staff party
Going to town to watch the college girls' school's founder's day parade as well as choir competition
Finish decorating the big house for Christmas
Preparing a Bible study and craft for the toddlers
And I think that is all for now.
Prayer Requests:
Safety while driving the kids to and from school
None of the toddlers or babies are sick right now, so prayer for continued health for them.
For me to have more time with my M's
For God to use me more!
Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts!
1 Corinthians 9:23-25
"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
Let us remember to run in the race and strive to finish well and receive the crown of life from our Father in heaven rather than looking to our own selfish amibitions to win an earthly prize.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Lizard eating Frog
We were standing outside and heard all of this commotion, we had thought that the noises were just some bats fighting over fruit. After investigation, Becky and one of the Agape girls found this:
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